Opinion
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4A — Monday, April 1, 2019

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MEGHAN BRODY | OP-ED

Build coalitions for social justice through student orgs
I

n the fall of 2016 at the 
University of Michigan, 
a chapter of HeForShe, 
a gender equality solidarity 
movement, was formed. Over 
this past summer, a HeForShe 
member was venting their 
frustrations 
about 
the 
University 
of 
Michigan’s 
response to Richard Spencer’s 
visit to a University employee. 
The 
employee 
told 
them 
something 
that 
HeForShe 
believes 
should 
frame 
our 
approach to activism work 
on campus: “Students can be 
frantic and the University can 
be hesitant.”
As 
we 
have 
seen, 
the 
University’s 
student 
body 
has been increasingly at odds 
with University officials and 
the administration. Protests 
have 
shut 
down 
the 
bus 
systems and filled the Fleming 
Administration 
Building, 
teach-outs are highly attended 
and student activists across 
campus are at a loss for how 
to get the University to listen 
to them and understand their 
needs.
HeForShe 
also 
attributes 
the 
University’s 
reluctant 
responses 
to 
a 
lack 
of 
cohesion among social justice 
activism groups on campus. 
There are more than 1,500 
student 
organizations 
on 
Maize Pages. Filtered down 
by the “activism” category, 
365 organizations still show 
up. The point being: There 
are a lot of student activists 
and activism groups at the 
University of Michigan.
This is a great thing and 
it 
proves 
that 
there 
are 
thousands of us on campus who 
are willing to fight for what 
we believe in. What HeForShe 

wonders is how can we work 
together to achieve our goals. 
Social 
justice 
orgs 
seem 
to compete for attendance 
at events, attention of the 
administration and campus 
resources 
like 
rooms 
and 
funding. How can we reach 
social justice on our campus 
when individual organizations 
seem to be yelling into a void, 
drowned out by the sheer 
volume of clubs?

When we fight for social 
justice, we are not doing so 
to beat down other social 
justice organizations. There 
should not be any competition 
when we are fighting for the 
same goals. As an activism 
organization, HeForShe hopes 
to build a coalition of student 
activists and student activism 
organizations 
because 
so 
much more can happen if we 
pool our ideas and resources 
together. We all strive for 
similar goals: equality and 
justice.
There are measures being 
taken. The Central Student 
Government liaison program 
is a new initiative designed “to 
provide a platform for students 
and their organizations to 
externally 
address 
possible 
issues within their groups. It 

also aims to foster a greater 
connection between campus 
organizations.” HeForShe was 
one of the first social justice 
organizations to be a part of 
the program and we highly 
encourage other organizations 
to get involved.
In 
order 
to 
build 
this 
coalition 
for 
social 
justice 
on our campus, HeForShe is 
taking the first step: reaching 
out. We are embarking on a 
listening tour and we want 
to meet all gender equality-
related student organizations 
to form a relationship. We 
want to know who is on their 
executive board, what their 
mission statement is, what 
events they are are hosting and 
how we can work together to 
achieve gender equality on our 
campus.
To do this, we ask that 
student 
organizations 
that 
deal 
with 
gender 
equality 
(even tangentially) attend the 
first ever student organization 
summit dedicated to coalition 
building. The event is called 
“The State of Gender Equality 
Orgs at U-M: Student Org 
Summit” and it will be held 
Tuesday, 
April 
2 
from 
7 
p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Harlan 
Hatcher 
Graduate 
Library 
Gallery (Room 100). For more 
information, find the event on 
Facebook.
As students cycle in and out 
of the University at the close 
of the winter 2019 semester, 
HeForShe invites you to think 
about the future. What can we 
be doing now for the students 
who will come after us?

I

n a new Emerson poll, 
former Vice President 
Joe 
Biden 
and 
Sen. 
Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., at 
25 and 24 percent 
respectively, 
lead 
the 
Democratic 
field 
among 
Iowa voters. And 
moreover, 
Mayor 
Pete 
Buttigieg 
of 
South 
Bend, 
Indiana 
(11 
percent) 
surged 
ahead 
to 
third 
place 
followed 
by 
Sen. 
Kamala 
Harris, D-Calif., (10 percent) 
and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 
D-Mass. (9 percent).
These 
results 
are 
unsurprising for two reasons. 
The first is Buttigieg has 
absolutely shined recently, 
especially 
in 
a 
recent 
CNN Town Hall at SXSW, 
where he demonstrated his 
intelligence, thoughtfulness 
on policy and humility. Yet 
Harris 
and 
Warren 
have 
done the same, particularly 
given 
they 
have 
both 
recently released large and 
substantive policy proposals. 
Harris introduced a national 
plan to dramatically raise 
teacher 
salaries, 
and 
Warren proposed plans to 
make childcare affordable, 
decrease 
government 
corruption, break up large 
tech 
corporations 
and 
decrease wealth inequality 
by 
taxing 
the 
extremely 
wealthy, which leads us to 
the second reason this is 
unsurprising.
Despite 
Harris 
and 
Warren’s 
proposals 
and 
demonstrated 
support 
in 
Iowa, 
positive 
media 
coverage 
has 
mostly 
centered on traditional (or, 
white male) candidates. For 
example, former U.S. Rep. 
Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, has 
been presented as a rock star 
by the media, in spite of the 
fact that he has made only 
one trip to Iowa and only 
vaguely discussed his policy 
proposals. He has received 
some skeptical coverage, but 
not much — it’s mostly seen 
about his unclear platform 
or his love of standing on 
bar tops when speaking to 
voters, 
which 
apparently 
happens a lot.
On 
a 
similar 
note, 
Buttigieg has also received 
some particularly fawning 
coverage. A reporter shared 
an 
anecdote 
in 
which 
Buttigieg 
began 
abruptly 

speaking 
Norwegian 
to 
another 
journalist 
after 
learning 
he 
was 
from 
a 
Norwegian 
outlet. 
After 
revealing 
he 
learned Norwegian 
because he wanted 
to read an author 
whose 
work 
has 
not been translated 
in 
English, 
the 
anecdote went viral 
and everyone was 
charmed.
All 
of 
this 
is 
totally 
understandable. 
I, too, was charmed. Yet, 
this story is pretty much the 
extent of attention the media 
has given him. They have not 
posed substantive questions 
about his policies — which 
in my view, seem to be half-
baked adoptions of Warren’s 
proposals 
— 
or 
seriously 
assessed his qualifications.

Still, it is important to note 
the difference of Buttigieg 
from O’Rourke and the other 
traditional white and male 
candidates, 
which 
is 
the 
historic nature of Buttigieg’s 
campaign 
as 
the 
first 
openly-gay man ever to run 
for president. His candidacy 
will 
be 
inspirational 
for 
many, 
especially 
for 
the 
queer community and, in 
particular, queer youth. It 
is for this reason that it is 
unfair to lazily throw him 
into the same category as the 
other white male candidates, 
but it is also important to 
acknowledge the advantages 
his gender and race give him.
The 
fact 
that 
these 
personal stories are enough 
to 
push 
him 
ahead 
in 
the polls demonstrates a 
broader 
problem 
in 
how 
the 
electorate 
weighs 
personality 
much 
more 
than experience, policy and 
capability. Still, this cannot 
be separated from the sexism 
at play in determining who 
we are charmed by and for 
whom we have disdain. And 
the media plays an important 

role in who is considered 
likable and who is not.
People have a propensity 
to humanize those who look 
like them over those who 
do not by seeing themselves 
— their hopes, insecurities, 
desires, 
downfalls 
— 
in 
them. 
When 
a 
primarily 
young, white and male press 
corps covers the primary and 
general election, it is easy to 
see why more empathy and 
adoration is given to the 
white male candidates, in 
addition to the fact that 44 of 
45 American presidents have 
been white males.
Nonetheless, I was born 
and raised in Indiana, so I 
have known about and liked 
Buttigieg a lot longer than 
he has been on the national 
scene. In my view, Buttigieg 
is 
quite 
smart, 
genuine 
and 
passionate. 
After 
a 
recent interview on “Pod 
Save America,” he has even 
climbed higher on my list of 
favorite 2020 candidates.
Still, it is important to 
critique the fawning media 
coverage of O’Rourke and 
Buttigieg 
that 
celebrates 
personality while ignoring 
important policy platforms 
presented 
by 
female 
candidates, because media 
coverage 
shapes 
elections 
and how people think about 
candidates.
To be clear, the problem 
is with the media coverage 
and how it has subsequently 
affected 
voters. 
Pointing 
out the sexism at play for 
women in politics, especially 
when running for president, 
is not meant to attack male 
candidates 
or 
dissuade 
voters 
from 
supporting 
them. Even as I grow more 
and more frustrated at the 
sexism in this primary, I do 
not blame the candidates 
themselves for sexist media 
coverage or biased voters.
Calling out sexism — or 
in some cases, racism and 
homophobia— is meant to 
create 
an 
equal 
playing 
field where voters are free 
to support their prefered 
candidate 
without 
social 
biases 
creating 
unfair 
advantages. Making sexism 
visible 
to 
unsuspecting 
voters and journalists only 
calls on them to consider 
how their own biases shape 
who they view as electable, 
likable and presidential.

Mayor Pete, Beto O’Rourke and sexism in politics

Marisa Wright can be reached at 

marisadw@umich.edu.

Zack Blumberg
Emma Chang
Joel Danilewitz
Emily Huhman
Tara Jayaram

Jeremy Kaplan
Magdalena Mihaylova
Ellery Rosenzweig
Ethan Kessler
Anu Roy-Chaudhury

Alex Satola
Timothy Spurlin
Nicholas Tomaino
Erin White 
Ashley Zhang

MARISA WRIGHT | COLUMN

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Meghan Brody is a senior in LSA and 

the outgoing president of HeForShe. They 

can be reached at megbrody@umich.edu.

It is important 
to critique the 
fawning coverage 
of O’Rourke and 
Buttigieg

We all strive for 
similar goals: 
equality and 
justice.

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